Fishing

Tiger Fishing & Fishing Chobe & Zambezi

The Tiger fish is probably one of the fiercest and most exciting freshwater fighting fish on our waters, growing up to 15kg in weight. It is an open water predator and thus is found in the Chobe and Zambezi rivers.

During the months of May, June and July is a popular time to catch Tiger fish as the river has reached its highest levels and soon begins receding back to the main channel. During this time the hatchlings have to find their way back to the main channel before they are trapped on dry ground. And this leads to a feeding frenzy for the voracious Tiger.

There are various methods to try your hand at catching these feisty creatures. They are, fly fishing, trolling, drift fishing and spinning.

The kind of fishing equipment an angler uses would depend on which method is preferred. For fly fishing you will need rods, reels, fly-lines, leader-lines and flies. For spinning and trolling you will need a line, a rod, lures and lures in many bright colours. As tiger fish are very strong and aggressive whatever equipment you decide to use has to be strong.

When fly fishing a 7-9 weight fly rod will be the ideal choice for catching tiger. Rather go too heavy than too light. The reel needs to match your rod and be able to hold 120m of 10-14kg backing. On big rivers such as the Zambezi a fast sinking line is the best choice. Leaders are the most important part of your set up. As a guide, the leader should be 2.6m. The mouth of a tiger fish is bone hard therefore high quality, sharp hooks are a must. The most successful flies for tiger fish are #2 to 2/0 sizes. The colours to go for are silver, silver & red, black & silver, orange,white & yellow.

When sport fishing the lure which stands out as the No 1 is the Effzet copper spoon. Go for the plain copper in both 20 and 30g.

Live bait is the most natural lure available and is found to be most effective from mid September onwards.

Bream also provide good sport too and are delicious to eat. The Nembwe is a beautiful fish to catch, these are most often found on claybanks with a steep drop off. The will take lures as well as bait. The Three spot bream is good on worm or on dough.

No matter what your preferred method of fishing is, the old saying always proves true “The two best times to go fishing are when its raining and when its not”.

So whether you do “catch & Release on Tiger or “hook & Cook” on Bream you will have fun here.

We have lodges on the Chobe being Chobe Water Villa’s and two on the Zambezi Mambova Rapids being Kaza Safari Lodge and Cascades. All are top fishing spots!!

Lastly don’t forget your sunscreen and hats as well as a long sleeved shirt to protect you from sun damage.